Sensitivity enhancement of nanoplasmonic sensors in low refractive index substrates.

Metal films perforated by nanoholes constitute a powerful platform for surface plasmon resonance biosensing. We find that the refractive index sensitivity of nanohole arrays increases if their resonance is red-shifted by increasing the separation distance between holes. However, an additional sensitivity enhancement occurs if the nanohole sensors are manufactured on low index substrates, despite the fact such substrates significantly blue-shift the resonance. We find a approximately 40% higher bulk refractive index sensitivity for a system of approximately 100 nm holes in 20 nm gold films fabricated on Teflon substrates (n=1.32) compared to the case when conventional glass substrates (n=1.52) are used. A similar improvement is observed for the case when a thin layer of dielectric material is deposited on the samples. These results can be understood by considering the electric field distribution induced by the so-called antisymmetric surface plasmon polariton in the thin gold films.

[1]  B. Sepúlveda,et al.  Shape effects in the localized surface plasmon resonance of single nanoholes in thin metal films. , 2008, Optics express.

[2]  Borja Sepúlveda,et al.  Optical antennas based on coupled nanoholes in thin metal films , 2007 .

[3]  W. Barnes,et al.  Long-Range Refractive Index Sensing Using Plasmonic Nanostructures , 2007 .

[4]  M. Käll,et al.  Sensing characteristics of NIR localized surface plasmon resonances in gold nanorings for application as ultrasensitive biosensors. , 2007, Nano letters.

[5]  Borja Sepúlveda,et al.  Nanohole plasmons in optically thin gold films , 2007 .

[6]  Kazuhiko Fujiwara,et al.  Measurement of antibody binding to protein immobilized on gold nanoparticles by localized surface plasmon spectroscopy , 2006, Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry.

[7]  Fei Le,et al.  Nanorice: a hybrid plasmonic nanostructure. , 2006, Nano letters.

[8]  L. Lechuga,et al.  Magnetooptic effects in surface-plasmon-polaritons slab waveguides , 2006, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[9]  Romain Quidant,et al.  Quantitative detection of doping substances by a localised surface plasmon sensor. , 2006, Biosensors & bioelectronics.

[10]  Mikael Käll,et al.  Plasmonic sensing characteristics of single nanometric holes. , 2005, Nano letters.

[11]  Molly M. Miller,et al.  Sensitivity of metal nanoparticle surface plasmon resonance to the dielectric environment. , 2005, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[12]  Mikael Käll,et al.  Localized surface plasmon resonance sensing of lipid-membrane-mediated biorecognition events. , 2005, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[13]  W. P. Hall,et al.  A Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor: First Steps toward an Assay for Alzheimer's Disease , 2004 .

[14]  R. Karlsson,et al.  SPR for molecular interaction analysis: a review of emerging application areas , 2004, Journal of molecular recognition : JMR.

[15]  T. Rindzevicius,et al.  Surface-Based Gold-Nanoparticle Sensor for Specific and Quantitative DNA Hybridization Detection , 2003 .

[16]  Per Hanarp,et al.  Optical Properties of Short Range Ordered Arrays of Nanometer Gold Disks Prepared by Colloidal Lithography , 2003 .

[17]  R. V. Van Duyne,et al.  Toward a glucose biosensor based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering. , 2003, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[18]  P. Hanarp.  Optical properties of nanometer disks, holes and rings prepared by colloidal lithography , 2003 .

[19]  M. El-Sayed,et al.  Spectral Properties and Relaxation Dynamics of Surface Plasmon Electronic Oscillations in Gold and Silver Nanodots and Nanorods , 1999 .

[20]  T. Chinowsky,et al.  Quantitative interpretation of the response of surface plasmon resonance sensors to adsorbed films , 1998 .

[21]  B. Liedberg,et al.  Surface plasmon resonance for gas detection and biosensing , 1983 .